"Damn You"

I don’t mind making enemies in the blogosphere. You can’t please everybody, even disembodied “anonymous” people. In these trying times for the Philippines, there’s no such thing as an “unpopular” opinion. There are opinions. There are challenges.

I have laid down a challenge at Patriots4Truth, and here’s what yet another disembodied ghost who happens to have an opinion about Philippine politics has to say about me. In its entirety:

@ Mark Ronald Rimorin

You think, you can enter a room and bash people just because they talk about political issues without revealing their names to each other? You are an arrogant idiot. I visited your site and read that you chose to justify your case on your blog instead,haha.. (brave daw)You can’t even answer the questions posted to you by someone who challenged you here. You just mentioned another unproven accusation against people. Well, I hope that person visited your blog. There’s no indication, if he did, he could have seen how lousy you argued about it, or maybe he didn’t bother to answer because it’s worthless. haha, come on, dignify me, dispute me. Hey, 22 year old UP student from Bagiuo, Mark Ronald Rimorin, who writes a lot on cyberspace, invite your readers to see what I wrote for you and bash me in your articles to vindicate yourself, but dont just choose some parts of my message for you, take it all. Too bad, it’s just another anonymous fella who does not believe in your doctrine about anonymity. You know, if you have a problem with people like poorstupidboy_69 because you have invented some sort of moral guidelines, well those people well may or must not like you either. And uhmm, dude, you think highly of yourself to the point of belittling other people just to show youre good or superior perhaps. But I dont think so,you are simply an arrogant braggart. That is the price of saying “damn you” Mark Ronald Rimorin. That is the price. btw, can I call you now, stupid? since you admitted being stupid? ok, so long stupid!

I am posting this blog entry as a response to Mr. Anonymous, who I am sure Mrs. Arroyo would not be inviting to be at her defense when her reckoning comes. I am also cross-posting the following entry at the aforementioned blogsite.

I know I have better things to write about, but I’m reserving my first-person blathering for this weekend. – Marck

* * *

You’re damn right, Patriots4Truth: damn you.

I’m not here to defend Jun Lozada, nor am I here to praise him. As I said before, Lozada’s testimony is nothing more than icing on the cake, just another reason in that long list of reasons for Gloria Arroyo to remove herself – or be removed – from office. Her legitimacy is in question. Her character is in question. Which basically means that her leadership is in question.

While we’re on the subject of questions, let me ask you a simple question: who are you?

I’m sure you would prefer not to mention who you are, other than the fact that you’re “Anonymous” or you are “Patriots.” Maybe your patriotism is an excuse for your anonymity. OK, let’s settle for that. How could I, a citizen of a free country who has the inalienable right to information, be able to make a fair assessment about the Jun Lozada issue if I do not know who you are?

Let me now proceed to descend into madness by answering accusations from faceless people.

* * *

If Lozada is proven to be corrupt beyond suspicion: by all means, send him to jail. You can even garrote him in Quirino Grandstand, for all I care. If we all stand against massive corruption in the government, I say we bring back capital punishment; let’s make plunder, corruption, and graft crimes punishable by death.

I almost forgot: justice is very selective in the Philippines. While you flog and flay a Jun Lozada in a public forum, you refuse to lay a single finger on that other suspected corrupt government official, the President herself. Why? “Because there is no alternative to GMA.”

Since when? So you’re telling me that when she committed that infamous “lapse in judgment” years ago, she did it because “there was no alternative?” I’ll give you alternatives to the President that I’m sure you will dispute. I’m sure you will disagree with me that the Vice President, the Senate President, the president of your local women’s club, the president of the jeepney association, are alternatives to Mrs. Arroyo. There is no such thing as “no alternative.”

You say your parents fought at EDSA. Mine did, too. They pushed for alternatives to Marcos at a time when “there was no alternative to Marcos.” Why can’t we do the same? Since when did GMA become the permanent President of the Philippines?

As Rousseau writes: “The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master, unless he transforms strength into right, and obedience into duty.” This is the backbone of the social contract. Mrs. Arroyo has transformed strength into might, and obedience into passivity. She has violated the social contract: EO 464, emergency powers, political killings, media violence, holiday economics, and the “mere” fact that she “protected her votes” in 2004.

* * *

“Anonymous” claims that we can’t oust GMA, much less can GMA remove herself from office, because “the law does not say otherwise.” He/she asks: “What did you do about it, save for shouting in the streets?”

Pardon the childish retort: what did YOU do about it?

I shouted in the streets demanding for justice and fairness because my vote was compromised. My future was jeopardized. Why? It was the only thing I can do: to exercise my Constitutionally protected right to voice out my discontent.

You, on the other hand, tolerated it. You allowed it to happen. In your blind, passive, non-critical support of the President who can do no wrong, you allowed this to happen. You exercised your right to remain silent. Here’s the strange part: you were never arrested. You cannot invoke the right to remain silent when you are free. When your freedoms are violated, you should be anything but silent, much less anonymous.

So I guess I cannot blame the President for everything after all. Let’s face it: as a “savage anti-GMA fanatic,” I only have YOU to blame for this. Now doesn’t that suck? You, in your search for truth and in all your bravado of patriotism, allowed the President to call a COMELEC official, allowed her to “protect her votes,” and in effect, you are allowing her to hush up over the NBN-ZTE deal.

How patriotic of you. What a hero you are. Shame on you. No, to reiterate, damn you.

* * *

Which brings me to those two words. I did not “invent” that “moral code.” You know why you feel so insulted with a “Damn you?” Because it burns in deep, dude. It hits you right on the spot. I’m not asking you to back up your version of the truth: I’m demanding that you stand by your version of the truth. That you man up to it. At this point, you don’t. You can’t own up to any accusation you hurl, while you demand Lozada to own up to his own faults. You are a spineless coward.

Do you think I would benefit from anything or gain popularity by using my real name? Like I said, I did not “invent” that “moral code.” I did not invent what people like Conrad de Quiros, Alex Magno, Cristy Fermin, Lolit Solis, Jun Lozada, and even Gloria Arroyo have in varying degrees. Not bravery, but integrity. You sir, in your preference to play on the irony of my use of the word “stupid,” do not display a shred of integrity.

You see, it’s so easy to hurl accusations against somebody while you hide under the skirt of your own anonymity. It’s so easy to accuse, knowing that you don’t have to be accountable to anybody outside of the cashier at your P20-an-hour Internet shop. You accuse me of arrogance? You dare accuse me of lousy argumentation? You dare mock me with your Kindergarten command of the English language? Your version of humility disgusts me. Your arguments are devoid of style and substance. Your mockery holds no more meaning for me than what pleasure you find in kissing the figurative, non-literal, metaphorical buttocks of the President.

That is not the price of insulting me, Mr. Anonymous. Consider that a freebie. It has been my distinct displeasure writing this entry, knowing that I have just wasted time on a socio-political amoeba like you.